Ray Cartwright: Traffic problem

With the damage and closure of I-70 and the detour that is being routed up from Colorado Highway 13 to Craig and then across U.S. Highway 40, something needs to be done about the traffic through downtown Craig.

I realize that traffic is going to increase, but I refuse to think that traffic speeds have to increase to excess speeds in not only cars, but the truck traffic, too. I have sat and watched semi after semi careening through the curves on Fourth Street.

The Craig Police Depart­ment and the Colorado State Patrol need to quit worrying about whether some teenager has their seat belt on and slow this traffic down. Someone is going to get killed.

Why can’t we make these trucks use the truck bypass instead of going through town? Maybe the city of Craig could immediately erect some signage out on highways 13 and 40 to direct trucks to the bypass; we also might direct the trucks from using the downtown streets off of north 13, too.

Maybe an ordinance should be written to keep all trucks off of city streets with the exception of deliveries.

I disagree with you observation. During the closure there were no semi-related crashes, and the business in the area saw an increase in business. Your observations are skewed, due to the increase of truck traffic, which cause us to notice them more, in reality there is a high level of truck traffic down town all of which has to maneuver the S curves in 4th St by edging near the curb. The part of you opinion I do not understand is you seem to be concerned with safety yet the leading cause of death of people under the age of 25 is car crashes. 61% of fatal crash involving people between 16 and 20 were unrestrained. In 1994 it was projected that over 65,000 peoples lives were saved by safety belts (NHTSA). How can you be critical of efforts to enforce a law that saves that amount of lives? Maybe it is not just the police writing your teens tickets, maybe it is the one reminded to wear their seatbelt, that will save their life. I ask of you what did you do today to make the world better when you can answer that then you can be critical of others.

WTF, I think your observations are a bit skewed too. I saw those trucks myself flying through the S curves on 4th/Victory Way and down Yampa Ave.
You seem to be good a quoting numbers and critizing Mr. Cartwright, but I could ask you the same thing.......What did you do to make the world a better place today? I don't know you or what you might do for a living, but maybe you don't know Mr. Cartwright and what he does for a living either so maybe your comment is out of line too?
I'm glad the police are watching out for the youth in our town and giving out seat belt awards, but that's their job and a program they chose to get involved with and it is also to protect the rest of us and if that means paying attention to the heavier truck traffic and telling them to slow down, which may in turn save the life of a teen then that's what they should be doing.

I am happy about that fact Grover. We do have our share of truck traffic in town every day and I really have no problem with them, but this was kind of scary at times.
But for the most part it is over and no one was harmed and that is the most important thing.